Wednesday, July 1, 2009

This chart is another of those undeniable green shoots. The chart tracks the number of corporate layoff announcements, and they have plunged from a high of 242K in January to 74K last month. That's a drop of almost 70%! Indeed, they are essentially back to levels that prevailed during the the growth years of 2004-2007. Corporate America saw the problem in late 2008, took action, and has now largely completed its downsizing. Businesses are now leaner and meaner and ready to grow. This is a tremendous development that suggests the economy is now in recovery mode.

That's not similar information, to begin with. And given that the number of people being laid off is decreasing by several measures, then the rise in mass layoff events must mean that while more companies are announcing layoffs, the number of people being laid off in these announcements is declining rapidly. No matter how you look at it, the number of people losing their jobs is going down. This is an essential first step for any subsequent recovery.